Domestic Violence Against Woman: Its Relevance To A Gender-Sensitive Policy

Domestic violence was often called a hidden crime. This study aims to describe about causes of domestic violence against woman, to critically analyze them using a system and ecological perspective and to analyze its relevance to policy. The method used in this study was mainly literature critical analysis with a brief case.The incidence of domestic violence occured due to multiple factors: socio-economic , psychological and cultural factors. The social and cultural factors were closely related to gender issue. Generally people tended to deal with only the victims (women), but the problem was not resolved effectively. Based on the system and ecological perspective, not only the abused woman needed counseling, but also the perpetrator (her husband) because of his bad anger management and his violent childhood. Even their children needed counseling too.In this case there are some myths. A wife usually stayed even though she was always abused by her husband; the myth: she enjoyed it (a masochist). Actually she did not. This happened because she was economically dependent on her husband, she did not want her children to suffer, or because the husband asked for forgiveness. To cope with domestic violence more effectively, we needed both micro strategy (counseling) and public policy (a macro level) which is sensitive to gender issues. Finally, raising awareness of society about the domestic violence and future research about its impact on children are important.